


What if Basil kept the portrait?

by LollypopLovegood



Series: What if... [2]
Category: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 14:06:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LollypopLovegood/pseuds/LollypopLovegood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another from the What if... series. This time on the Picture of Dorian Gray. If you have any What if... requests just inbox me :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	What if Basil kept the portrait?

A Girl

Basil remembered the night clearly. The ride to the awful theatre, and the awful girl Dorian was so set on marrying.   
He had wept, sat in his studio with the painting Dorian had never collected. No doubt the girl had been beautiful, but surely no genius. She was not an actress, rather a mere mockery of beauty.  
Beauty ran deeper. It was something that could only be seen by those so vain that it consumes them, or those so alone they're left with nothing but a longing; to love and to posses. A longing that had overwhelmed Basil from the day he had met Dorian, and if Dorian was true a feeling that had overwhelmed him since the day he met the girl.  
Wiping his eyes, Basil stood up to leave, only glancing at the painting, but he was almost certain he saw it smile. But not a kind smile; no. There was something sinister that made Basil shiver.

A Confession

Basil knocked at Dorian's door little more than a day later to offer his condolences upon the news of Sibyl Vane's death, only to learn that Dorian had only returned that morning from a night out with Lord Henry. Was that boy really so bold?  
The beautiful eyes stared so deep and sincere, he could not believe a bad thing of them. As Basil spoke carefully, afraid to openly declare his love, he watched Dorian's look puzzle, like something was ticking inside. It worried him.

A Spy

It didn't take Basil long to realise why the painting was changing. Almost daily, the picture was withering, with cruelty, vanity and age. It wasn't long before the true Dorian's beauty was tarnished. Many a time Basil would pull the sheet from the painting to spy on his love, and many a time he eyed the knife with the desire to kill Dorian's sin, but knew it would taint the false Dorian's innocence and beauty and so he didn't.   
He saw the effects of Dorian's hedonistic lifestyle, his love affairs- not only with Henry, but the likes of Adrian Singleton and Alan Campbell- his drug abuse, his scandals and outrage. Basil saw it all. And never once did he stop loving him. 

An Invite

Dorian was in his mid-thirties when Basil sent the fateful invite, to tea and a private viewing of his upcoming exhibition in Paris.   
"It really is quite impressive." Dorian approved, as the two men strolled about the studio, observing the art Basil had slaved over.   
"Thank you." Basil smiled "may I show you something?"   
"Of course." Dorian replied, with charming courtesy.   
Basil took Dorian to his hidden portrait and stopped before unveiling it.  
"Do you ever wonder why you don't age?" Basil asked  
"I believe I once willed a painting to age instead of myself, but it seems too perfect and I'm sure I am ageing, just maybe not as noticeably." Dorian replied, a puzzled look crossing his face. Basil nodded, and unveiled the painting.

A Scream

Basil's hand flew over Dorian's mouth to silence him, but in less than a second Dorian had grabbed Basil's knife. Blood spilt from Basil's chest as he blinked back tears and fell to the ground; dead. 

A Bloody Knife

Dorian Gray stood staring at a painting, or rather, at himself. The Ugliness disgusted him, and he clutched the knife in fear as the contorted face became yet more tainted with Basil's murder. Blood appeared on his hands, and dripped from the painting and Dorian held his breath so not to scream.   
In fear, and loathing, Dorian glanced at the dripping knife in his hands and back at the painting, before stabbing it, straight through the heart

A Girl

All stories have beginnings and ends, lovers and haters... Dorian's story began with a wish and ended in death and was tainted by lovers and murdered by his own hatred. And in the end, it all came back to the girl. The girl for whom he had held such feelings for, only for them to become false, and let him fall down the paths of sin and cruelty.   
And with her face in his mind, the rapidly ageing Dorian slumped to the floor, dead beside his friend, and the one person who had ever loved him.


End file.
